Musk, never at a loss for words or otherworldly ambitions, today spoke at SXSWi here and dished several pearls on:

— His space plans. Musk says Texas is the leading candidate for a third launch site for one of SpaceX's rockets, joining sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. SpaceX is in talks with Texas legislators to make it happen within two years, he says.

Other contenders are in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Virginia.

— The perils of a rocket launch. Before showing a video of a rocket simulation to the tune of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire, Musk said the anxiety of a launch is often "distilled into a few seconds when it clears the (launch) tower."

"This is not about competing with NASA," he says. "I was disappointed that we have not progressed beyond Apollo."

— Controversy over the New York Times' negative review of the Tesla Model S. Musk says he welcomes negative feedback and critical reviews, but has a problem with "false reviews."

"It was a low-grade ethics violation that was not in good faith," he says.

— Lithium batteries. The overheated battery cells, which have delayed Boeing's production of the Dreamliner airplane, are too large and the gaps between too small, Musk says.

"Tesla is a fan of small cells," he says. "Lithium is the way to go."

— Solar power. Solar paneling is "like putting a second roof on a building," he says.

— On doing so much. "Life is busy but I'd like to take it down a (notch)," he says. "It sucked at times last year. I want to have more fun this year."